Engaging Youth in Prevention by Partnering with Faith-Based Organizations

1. Engaging Youth in Preventionby Partnering withFaith-Based Organizations OJJDP 12th National EUDL Leadership Conference August 20, 2010 Community Service Programs, Inc. – Project Faith in Youth EVALCORP Research & Consulting

2. Presented by Lisa Garbrecht, Ph.D. EVALCORP Research & Consulting Lourdes Gutierrez, M.S. Stephan Lambert Community Service Programs, Inc. Project Faith in Youth This presentation was made possible through funding from the County of Orange Health Care Agency – Alcohol and Drug Education Prevention Team

3. Overview of Presentation • Why partner with Faith-Based Organizations (FBOs)? • The FAITH Coalition • Project Faith in Youth • Program model and strategies • Example of past mini-grantee • Evaluation findings from 2009-2010 • Impacts of Mini-Grant Program • Challenges and lessons learned

4. Program Background Partnering with FBOs & FAITH Coalition

5. Why Partner with FBOs? • Challenge of engaging and sustaining youth involvement in prevention • Faith communities are in a powerful position to affect attitudes toward illicit drugs and alcohol use by youth • The values that FBOs promote and maintain are a solid foundation upon which effective prevention programs can be built

6. A young person who spends one or more hoursper week in activities in a religious institution isless likely to be involved with drug use and violenceand more likely to maintain good health andsucceed in school. Developmental Asset #19 Search Institute

7. FAITH Coalition • FAITH: Faiths And Institutions Together for Health • A partnership of diverse faith leaders and AOD prevention providers in Orange County, California • Formed in 2000 as a result of “Involving the Faith Community in Prevention,” a training facilitated by Michael Cunningham

8. FAITH Coalition Serves as: • A monthly meeting place for Orange County faith leaders and prevention providers to discuss AOD-related issues and exchange information and resources • A conduit for faith communities to access existing prevention resources in government and community organizations to enrich their own congregational programs

9. FAITH Coalition Offers: • Resources and support for youth workers to facilitate prevention training (in areas such as youth development, asset building and media literacy) in their own congregations and to cross train youth in other faith communities

10. FAITH Coalition Offers: • Free, interactive presentations for diverse congregational groups • Guidance for empowering and organizing youth to undertake school and community service projects • Assistance with grant writing to access funds for prevention programs

11. FAITH Coalition Accomplishments: • Contributed to the development of Project Faith in Youth, funded by the Orange County Health Care Agency • Received a Drug-Free Communities Support Program grant from ONDCP/SAMHSA in 2008

12. Project Faith in Youth Overview, Mini-Grant Program Model & Case Example

13. Project Faith in Youth • Founded in 2005 • Seeks to strengthen the capacities of FBOs to integrate AOD prevention into their programs by building on the structures and practices promoting positive youth development already in place • Works with diverse faith communities to empower young people to make positive choices

14. Mini-Grant Program • Funds FBOs to build their capacity to provide AOD prevention to youth groups • Provides training, technical assistance and resources • Objective is to increase the following protective factors among youth: • Meaningful participation in the community • Connectedness to the faith community • Positive relationships with adults and peers

15. Mini-Grant Program Model • Market program to diverse FBOs • Review applications via independent panel • Contract with mini-grantees requiring: • Prevention activities with youth groups • Participation in trainings, technical assistance and FAITH Coalition meetings • Action Plan and Expenditure Report • Sustainability Plan

16. Mini-Grant Program • Funded 17 FBOs to date • Total of $68,000 granted • In first year (2005-06), 8 grantees each received $1,000 to conduct youth assessment • Measured AOD prevalence and attitudes among youth in FBOs • Received training and technical assistance

17. Mini-Grant Program In subsequent years (06-07 to 09-10): • 3 grantees per year each received $5,000 • Provided training, technical assistance and resources • Participated in FAITH Coalition Meetings • Conducted at least 3 structured prevention activities with youth

18. Prevention Activities Education • Town Hall Meetings • Media Literacy Trainings Environmental • Sticker Shock • Merchant Education • “Photo Voice” Community Assessments

19. Prevention Activities Alternative Activities • Community Service Projects • Food distribution programs • Fasting to raise funds for the homeless • A car wash to raise funds for a youth shelter • Participating in Red Ribbon Week activities • Sports programs and basketball tournaments • T-shirt design projects • Intergenerational “Family Fun” nights • Youth retreats and camping trips • Prevention video game

20. Mini-Grantee Case Example Santiago de Compostela Church • Funded in 2005 for $1,000 to conduct youth assessment • Received $5,000 mini-grant in 2006-07 • Serves as a model program, mentoring new grantees

21. Santiago de Compostela Church Prevention Efforts • Developed Friday Night Live Chapter • Advocated for tax reclassification of alcopops as distilled spirits before a representative of the California Board of Equalization • Successfully advocated for Social Host Ordinance in Mission Viejo, California

22. Santiago de Compostela Church Prevention Efforts • Merchant education campaigns • Sticker Shock • Minor decoy operations • Town Hall meetings • Parish festival resource table

23. Santiago de Compostela Church Ongoing Prevention Efforts: • Friday Night Live Chapter • Sticker Shock • Town Hall meetings • Youth Mentoring and Peer Leadership Programs

24. Evaluation of 09-10 Project Faith in Youth Evaluation Methods & Findings

25. Evaluation Methods Assessing program outcomes: • Youth Survey of Protective Factors • Pre, Post 1 and 2 Survey administrations • Tracking tools • Key informant interviews with mini-grantees • Staff interviews

26. Evaluating Impacts on Youth Youth Survey of Protective Factors: • Similar Pre- and Post-Surveys • Socio-demographic and identification items (for unique IDs) • Youth indicated on Likert scale the extent to which they possessed protection factors • Derived from Search Institute • Additional evaluative items on post-surveys

27. Evaluating Impacts on Youth Youth Survey of Protective Factors: • Administered to at least 40 youth at each FBO • Challenges of obtaining sufficient number of youth surveys • Pre-Post Administration • Pre-Survey administered at onset of program • Post 1-Survey administered immediately following a prevention activity • Post 2-Survey administered at end of program year

28. Youth Survey of Protective FactorsFactor: Meaningful Participation in the Community

29. Youth Survey of Protective FactorsFactor: Connectedness to Faith Community

30. Youth Survey of Protective FactorsFactor: Positive Adult Relationships

31. Youth Survey of Protective FactorsFactor: Positive Peer Relationships

32. Youth Survey of Protective FactorsFactor: Positive Peer Relationships

33. Youth Survey Findings Youth Survey Findings: • From pre- to post-surveys, youth at the 3 FBOs increased protective factors of: • Meaningful participation in the community • Connectedness to community • Positive relationships with adults and peers • On post-surveys, all youth at the 3 FBOs agreed that as a result of the program they increased the above protective factors

34. Youth Survey Findings Youth Survey Findings: • Most valuable aspect of program: • All aspects • AOD information/consequences of AOD use • Sense of community and belonging • Stronger bonds with faith community, parents and peers • Community service/satisfaction from helping others • Encouragement and support • Personal growth and leadership skills

35. Evaluating Impacts on FBOs Interviews with Mini-Grantees: • Key informant interviews conducted with four representatives from the three 09-10 mini-grantees • Protocol included questions about: • Why they applied for the mini-grant • How the program impacted their organization • What challenges they experienced • How they overcame challenges

36. Mini-Grantee Interview Findings Reasons for Applying for Mini-Grant: • Need for prevention due to increased AOD problems • To increase awareness and knowledge about AOD addiction within the faith community • To integrate youth in the faith community with the community at large • To increase the number of youth “attending church functions and getting them off of the streets”

37. Mini-Grantee Interview Findings Impacts of Program: • Brought parents and youth closer together • Youth seeing themselves as role models and want to help more in the community • Increased participation in youth programs at FBOs • Empowerment of youth “The kids feel good about themselves and feel that they have made a mark and an impact.” - Mini-Grantee

38. Mini-Grantee Interview Findings Challenges: • Obtaining youth participation • Overcome by reframing participation in a positive light and by providing fun activities • Difficulties integrating faith and community youth groups • Overcome by teaching communication skills and having youth communicate with each other during activities • Language and cultural barriers • Overcome by translating materials and providing parental education

39. Challenges & Lessons Learned Overcoming Challenges and Lessons Learned by Program Staff

40. Challenges • Culture of denial in faith communities • Quick turnover of youth workers • Some youth workers work only part-time • Current curriculum followed by youth workers does not contain section on AOD prevention • Difficulty developing Action Plans and Sustainability Plans

41. Overcoming Challenges • Collaborate with faith curriculum developers to include AOD prevention in manuals for youth workers • Conduct trainings for youth ministry workers, volunteers and faith community • Provide technical assistance and examples from previous mini-grantees to assist with Action Plans and Sustainability Plans • Pilot/provide mentoring program linking past grantees with current grantees

42. Lessons Learned Key lessons: • How to market prevention to FBOs • How to build capacity of FBOs to integrate prevention • How to sustain faith-based prevention efforts

43. Lessons Learned: Marketing • Find youth ministers who: • Have passion for helping young people make healthy choices • Can make a paradigm shift to integrate prevention into every aspect of their ministry • Emphasize that youth ministers/FBOs have freedom to develop their own prevention action plan to meet their needs

44. Lessons Learned: Marketing • Promote ATOD prevention not as a program that you’re laying on top of their existing youth development program but as a component that will do the following for their programs: • Strengthen • Enrich • Enliven

45. Lessons Learned: Marketing • Demonstrate that prevention works by holding up model FBO prevention programs • Show that primary prevention is more cost-effective than secondary or tertiary prevention • Emphasize the free resources they can access, including training, technical assistance and mini-grants • Attend meetings of OC Interfaith Councils

46. Lessons Learned: Capacity • Build on structures and practices already in place to elevate prevention on their faith agenda • Youth ministry programs • Religious education classes • Show how prevention messages can be integrated into the beliefs and traditions of faith communities.

47. Lessons Learned: Capacity • Provide on-site training: • AOD Prevention 101 • Research-based prevention strategies • Examples of feasible AOD prevention activities that easily be incorporated into their programs • Asset building • Encourage participation in other AOD-related trainings given by other organizations

48. Lessons Learned: Capacity • Provide technical assistance on: • Developing their own action plan • Creating their own prevention materials • Accessing prevention resources and funding opportunities • Sustaining prevention efforts • Provide membership in the Faith and Institutions Together for Health (FAITH) Coalition • Empower youth leadership teams to do cross-faith training in prevention (e.g., Media Literacy)

49. Lessons Learned: Sustainability • Build Sustainability Plan into faith-based prevention Action Plan • Provide technical assistance in grant writing for developing a more detailed sustainability plan beyond grant period • Provide access to youth programs that provide continuity (i.e., FNL) • Facilitate community events to showcase sustained prevention efforts

50. Questions & Answers